5 comments about Cain's Redemption.

1. Cain's Redemption: A Story Of Hope And Transformation In America's Bloodiest Prison by Dennis Shere is the remarkable story of Burl Cain's inspiring struggle to provide a kinder, safer, more creative and beneficial environment the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, once infamous for being the bloodiest prison in America. Carrying readers through the fascinating true story of Cain's persistence and perseverance, Cain's Redemption describes the remarkably relentless efforts to engender an atmosphere of reform and cooperation for both prisoners and guards which was to ultimate result in substantially improving the entire prison. Cain's Redemption is very strongly recommended reading, especially for students of penology, prison system administrators, prisoner rights advocates, social justice activists, and incarcerated prisoners.



2. As a volunteer Christian minister, I found it easy to embrace the concept of moral rehabilitation. Dennis Shere presents the information in such a way that even a skeptic would have to accept the results as truly impressive. I wish that Shere had spent a bit time more on the transition. Still, it speaks volumes for what God can do with an open hearted person, whatever their background.



3. I spent three days filming a documentary at Angola, some with the Warden, and saw firsthand what God has doen through Warden Burl Cain. Having been raised in Louisiana and heard all the stories of the hellhole known as Angola, I was a bit hesitant about the assignment. It was one of the most uplifting and encouraging experiences of my life. It's almost impossible to believe the stories from the book, but to see them in 3-D, in the flesh, was amazing.
   
   Get the book. Let it speak to your heart. See what God can do. You will hardly believe it.



4. There are several half truths and ignored facts that permeate this book. I have been there and seen what the author is writing about. The 'trouble makers' referred to in the book are Black Panthers who are being punished for little more than asserting their human rights after being framed for a murder they did not commit. There is one man in particular that has been there since 1970 that is completely innocent but dos not have the means to 'buy' representation, so he just sits there and rots. There has to be a better solution to poverty and the lack of a credible mental health system in Louisiana than returning Black men to a state of contemporary slavery where they are controlled with Christianity and judged on what they have done and might do by fellow White Christians.
   
   The inmates regularly told me, "I have a life sentence, but God has a better plan," meaning the judges on earth will be judged by the ultimate judge when their power on earth is null and void and they try to collect in the afterlife.
   
   "How can man give me life and God give me life?"
   
   America needs to awake to what has been done to 'others' in the name of God!!



5. This was a very inspirational story. A well written book that will send you on an emotional rollercoaster. This book IS NOT filled with a pack of lies. I met Dennis Shere, and Warden Cain, along with many of the inmates and those that work at Angola.
   
   Of course Angola is not a perfect place, run by perfect people, or has only perfect inmates. I don't believe that anyone ever made that claim. But what it is, is an amazing place with amazing things happening. Anyone who doubts this, start visiting different jails and prisons in your area, then go to Angola for several days, and tell me God isn't at work there.
   
   The system is screwed up. The government is screwed up. People screw up. But God is good. With him, all things are possible.
   
   I stayed at Angola for eight days. I ate there, slept there, worshiped with those that worked there, and those that were doing time, there. I was so moved with what was going on there, I didn't want to leave. I'm involved in the prison ministry and write to several inmates, including a handful from Angola. Great men with big hearts and a genuine devoted love for God.
   
   Look at how crowed our prison systems are! What the statistics show the reentry rate is. Isn't it obvious we're doing something wrong! I truly believe in my heart, that if all prison systems would adopt what Burl Cain is doing, along with places like, Koinonia House, in Illinois, we would find a big dent in the cost of our prison system, for we would be truly reforming criminals, instead of slapping a number on them and writing them off. That's just not working...hello.
   
   Hebrew 13:3 "Don't forget about those in prison. Suffer with them as though you were there yourself. Share the sorrow of those being mistreated, as though you feel their pain in your own bodies."

1 comments about A Land Without Evil: Stopping the Genocide of Burma's Karen People.

1. This is not a complete story, not a complete documentary, not a complete analysis, not a complete history, not a complete anything. The author doesn't seem to have a purpose except to write a book about the Karen people. It includes brief excerpts from some of their history; it includes brief descriptions about some of their culture; it includes brief descriptions about some Karen people and some people who work with and for them.
   
   It's not even a summary of history or culture or their situation. It's merely brief snapshots of parts, and like the blindman who merely feels the elephant's trunk, one cannot get a complete grasp on what is the Karen people.
   
   Nevertheless, these snapshots are awesome and tremendously interesting. The author paints the Karen people as a very interesting minority culture in Burma. It leaves the reader with an admiration if not love of these people and a desire to know more but also a desire to visit this land.
   
   So many history books are written by the powerful and tell the story of the powerful. We know about Napolean, Washington, kings and queens. This book tells the story of regular old folks who live, love and unfortunately suffer in a beautiful land.

5 comments about Murder in the Vatican: The Revolutionary Life of John Paul and The CIA, Opus Dei and the 1978 Murders.

1. The stories of Albino Luciani's childhood alone are worth the price of admission. Yet, it is the record of his ministry that is the meat of this book. What the author has to say is supported by scores of newspaper accounts that recorded his outspoken voice against the Vatican on humane issues. From the time, as a young priest, he had sought asylum in the Vatican for 500 Jews who had docked at Naples, to those times, as a bishop, he ordered hospitals within his jurisdiction to admit long term partners of homosexuals into intensive care units, to that time just a month before his election to the papacy when most cardinals condemned Louise Brown, the world's first artificially inseminated child, he sent a public letter to her parents, "I congratulate you on the birth of your little girl. I (the Church) have no right to condemn you for what you wanted and asked the doctors to carry out. Be assured, there is a high place for both you and your child in heaven."
   
   True followers of Christ are in for a treat beyond their wildest dreams. The hypocrites are in for a nightmare.
   
   Yet, this one beautiful life, this one beautiful book, is harshly interrupted by what Michael Malak, Playwright, describes as "A Conspiracy Buff's Delight."
   
   His last public proclamation the day before he died probably was enough by itself to draw fatal fire from both within his own ranks and from across the pond, "This morning, I flushed my toilet with a solid gold lever. At this moment, bishops and cardinals are using a bathroom on the second floor of the Papal Palace which trappings, I am told, would draw more than one hundred million dollars at auction . . . Believe me, one day, we who live in opulence, while so many are dying because they have nothing, will have to answer to Jesus why we have not carried out His order, `Love thy neighbor as thyself.' We, the clergy together with our congregations, who substitute gold and pomp and ceremony in place of Christ's instruction, who judge our masquerade of singing His praises to be more precious than human life, will have the most to explain . . . Let us heed the great words of Paul VI, `It is the inalienable right of man to own property. But it is the right of no man to accumulate wealth beyond the necessary while other men starve to death because they have nothing!'"



2. What we have here is summed up in Gregoire's conclusion, "The lack of importance the United States gave to the election of a pope after the death of pro-American Pius XII through the election of anti-Communist John Paul II became paramount in the thinking of subversive elements in America. The lingering evidence is too striking to be ignored.
   
   The failure of the United States to influence the election of a pro-American Pope in 1963 was a lesson not to be repeated. The adverse consequence of that failure was enormous. The price astronomical in terms of lost opportunity and the deployment of United States policies and billions spent in counteracting Paul's subversive operations inside and outside the Church.
   
   Paul VI disseminated his pro-Communist anti-American principles via encyclicals condemning capitalism and the basic tenets upon which the United States was founded. He condemned the imperialism of money in the Western world. He denounced private property claiming to give wealth and land to the poor was to give them God's province.
   
   His reign had moved the Italian Communist Party from single digit electoral progress to 34.4% and his support of the Historic Compromise - the union of the Communist Party and Aldo Moro's Christian Democratic Party - threatened to move Communist members into control of Parliament. Communism would quickly spread from Italy to Spain where it had already reached double digit progress and eventually to all of Europe.
   
   His Marxist principles took on horrendous roots where the poor were collectively dominant in Latin America, the stability of which was threatened. Covert operations by the United States had to be undertaken to counteract the spreading of Paul's doctrines. When they reached Central America, the United States had to intervene with billions in military arms and assistance to its ruthless dictators.
   
   Paul's death was wrapped with speculations and vague rumors. His deterioration had been so extremely unusual whispers concerning the `acceleration of his demise' circulated. Suspicions were well justified when his death was met with delight in the United States, specifically the headquarters of the CIA and the Pentagon which had labeled him the `Bolshevik Pontiff.'
   
   Nevertheless, his providential death gave the CIA the opportunity to force election of a pro-American Pope. The CIA joined factions inside and outside the Church sponsoring the Opus Dei anti-Communist candidate Polish Cardinal Wojtyla. When Luciani (John Paul I), a Marxist in every sense of the word, particularly in his driving ambition to rid the world of poverty, was elected, it struck a nerve of shattering proportions in Washington. As a cardinal, he had not only been a figure in the Italian Communist movement, he had vigorously supported the renegade archbishop of Central America Oscar Romero and his revolutionaries. When as a pope, he announced he would attend the upcoming Pueblo Conference in Mexico and changed its theme from Liberation Theology to Liberation of the Poor - he would feed them food rather than faith - the perils of potential multi-Cubas became imminent. The dangers to the security of the United States had become real. . . "
   
   Gregoire brilliantly puts together the historical record supported by over 400 press releases. For those who can't accept what the press has to say, he locks in his case with dozens of important historical photos like one with Licio Gelli, Grandmaster of the P2 killer organization - which had a presence in the Vatican the night John Paul died - standing next to former CIA Director George Bush as he took his presidential oath in 1989.
   
   No one is going to walk away from this book without the absolute conviction that the deaths of Aldo Moro, Paul VI, John Paul I and a dozen of their closest allies in their world war on poverty had greater roots than John Paul's alleged involvement in the Great Vatican Bank Scandal which as a matter of historical record began and ended under the reign of John Paul II.



3. Gregoire does a riveting job in proving it was John Paul's obsession to do away with poverty in the world that cost him his life. He didn't have to go to Africa or China to see it, as he was surrounded by it when he was growing up; the plight of two million bastards - born-out-of-wedlock children condemned by the Church - something which Gregoire brutally portrays - their frozen bodies being collected each morning by a cart. ". . . Only the creaking of the wheels and an occasional thud of a frozen tot broke the quiet of the dawn."
   
   ". . . Each time their tiny frozen bodies would pass by in the cart, every priest, nun and brainwashed Christian thought it to be right. The only hint of compassion now and then, 'They are better off dead.' Everyone thought there was something holy about it. After all, it was written in their Holy Bible, these were the worst of children - BASTARDS. . . That is, everyone except Piccolo, the little boy Albino Luciani. He thought it was wrong. He didn't care whether or not it was written in a book. In fact, he knew it was wrong. And he knew it was wrong because his revolutionary socialist atheist anticlerical father had told him it was wrong. . . "
   
   It was this which drove him for twenty years as a bishop to be a rampaging locomotive running about the Vatican, the courts and Parliament of Italy demanding basic human rights for out-of-wedlock children, women, homosexuals, the remarried and the poor; things that must have infuriated right wing elements inside and outside the Church. Particularly, when he made it the central theme of his acceptance speech as recorded in `Murder in the Vatican':
   
   Associated Press, September 29, 1978, Vatican City, Just thirty-three days into his pontificate, Pope John Paul died last evening... Vibrant and on the job to the end, he was sixty-five... the only Pope in history whose death was unwitnessed... On hearing the news, Cardinal Benelli of Florence called for an autopsy... Born of a social revolutionary atheist father who had placed him in a seminary at the age of eleven with the commission to bring change to the Church... What would have been John Paul's papacy is perhaps best defined by the central message of his acceptance speech in the Sistine Chapel, August 27, 1978, "... We must rise up the courage within us and set aside the prejudices that have been built into us by our Christian forefathers and together we will muster the strength to lift those restraints that have been unfairly placed upon the everyday lives of so many innocent people by doctrine... for God-given human life is infinitely more precious than is man-made doctrine..."



4. This work is complete and total fiction. It's the most audacious and ridiculous thing I have ever read. Hardly one word of it has any connection to reality.
   
   My authority for saying so? I have been researching Pope John Paul I's life myself for many years. I have talked to his family and those who knew him. I have read and translated his writings from his years in Vittorio Veneto and Venice, right from the original documents published in the 60's and 70's, even his original writings from the diocesan paper in Belluno in the 1940's -- all published long before there was any possibility that his writings could have been suppressed by the Vatican as the author claims. I never found a trace of the revolutionary ideas that Mr. Gregoire claims that the Pope had about sexuality. He did not favor homosexuality at all. The few snippets of the Pope's actual writings that the author includes have usually been distorted beyond all recognition. This is especially true of his interview about the first test-tube baby, of which Gregoire excerpts and distorts only a tiny portion (there was no letter to the parents). In the remainder of the interview, Luciani said that he fully accepted Pope Pius XII's view that any procreation of children apart from the actual marriage act was not licit.
   
   Here is another actual quote from his writings from 1974, an interview he gave to the daily newspaper of Venice - I myself photocopied the actual original article:
   
   "A sexuality that is worthy of man must be a part of love for a person of a different sex with the added commitments of fidelity and indissolubility." (Il Gazzettino, February 12,1974, p. 7)
   
   It is claimed that this is the only biography written of John Paul I or the only surviving record of his life. Pure nonsense. I myself possess about a dozen biographies of John Paul I in Italian, some very scholarly. Needless to say, they tell an entirely different tale. English readers have been deprived of a good complete biography of him in English; the gap has been filled by this?!
   
   The account of the Pope's last audience is distorted beyond all recognition, with completely fictional passages added. The author says they came from an AP story, because the original was suppressed by the Vatican. How can it be that I myself have researched newsppaper reaction to John Paul I's papacy in newspapers, both American and from around the world without ever seeing any such story -- which of course, would immediately been picked up by all the world's newspapers? It's because none exists! If Mr. Gregoire can show a single actual newspaper that printed this story, I'd be prepared to retract, but I know he can't.
   
   Mr. Gregoire says in his preface that he wrote his book "in several genres." That ought to give a wary reader pause right there. If the genres he mentions are all fictional, then he is quite correct!
   
   I love John Paul I very much, and it's horrible to see his legacy distorted in this way. If you study his actual writings, you will see that he was a progressive bishop in social matters, but he was not a Marxist. He was faithful on Church doctrine. But some people are not interested in the truth. They want a Pope made to their own specifications - they can't accept the man who really existed.
   
   I hope the biography I am going to publish will set things right. In the meantime, the writings that I have translated appear in the book "The Smiling Pope: The Life and Teaching of John Paul I," and they are all authentic. The book contains an accurate biography of him as well.
   
   If you want to learn more, including the truth about the Pope's death, go to [...]
   
   The Smiling Pope: The Life And Teaching Of John Paul I



5. A God for Lions: World Religions Simplified
   
   The author of this book claims the 33-day Pope (Albino Luciani) often riled up homosexuals encouraging them to stand up for their rights. For example, the author quotes Luciani's letter to Figaro originally published in the NY Times and republished in John Paul's best seller 'Illustrissimi'. I checked 'Illustrissimi' and sure enough the letter was there, word for word.
   
   "Dear Figaro,
   
   Well then, who and what are you my dear Figaro?
   
   A variety of dress? A mixture of feminine and masculine?
   Of Orient and Occident?
   
   Poor Figaro, against all these nobles with their coats of arms, these bewigged bourgeois, who themselves do every trespass.
   
   They are no better, perhaps worse, than you. Barber, marriage broker, adviser of pseudo diplomats, yes, ladies and gentlemen, whatever you like.
   
   They demand that you alone be honest in this world of cheats and rogues. Do not accept what they say, my dear Figaro, for you, too, are a citizen.
   But, sadly, perhaps, your only solution is in revolution!
   
   Your magical friend,
   
   Albino."
   
   I was drawn to this book by a review in the Globe, "Like the 'DaVinci Code', 'Murder in the Vatican' will infuriate devout Christians and other believers in ghosts and the supernatural. Yet, unlike Brown, Gregoire has the proof."
   
   Look for low grades from enraged nuns.

3 comments about Hidden Women of the Gospels.

1. A rare book of encouragement to all the silent Christian women. Funny, moving and a very good read.



2. I found this book to be wonderfully moving. It helped me to understand the women of the bible within the context of their everyday lives. And so it made me more able to then relate their lives to mine. This book is an exciting read for women (or men) who want to know the women of the bible on a more personal, emotional and every day level. It's also a great jumping off point for prayer, meditation, or bible study.



3. This is truly a must read for laity and clergy alike. The book is not only inspiring, but also thought provoking. Ms. Coffey reaches deep into the gospels and weaves ancient stories that can help each of us live in today's contemporary society. This book deserves a bravo!!!!

5 comments about Learning to Love: Exploring Solitude and Freedom (Merton, Thomas//Journal of Thomas Merton).

1. As usual, his journal style leads me into deep contemplation, but his honesty in dealing with all issues reminds the reader that he is a man before a monk or priest. I reccommend this book to all Seminary Students and those seeking quiet prayer and contemplation.



2. here is the volume that was much anticipated, the volume of Thomas Merton's diaries that dealt with his "love affair" with a young nurse, Margie Smith. By this point in the diaries, Merton has become a full time hermit{as someone once remarked, the busiest,most voluminous hermit in history. Or,as Merton wrly titled one of his diaries, A VOW OF CONVERSATION}. Moving further away from the obdient young novice of volume 2,Merton as always in full tonged battles with his Abbot,James Fox,,has been exploring eastern religions,trying to find the center which unites all. Then, he goes to a louisville hospital to have back surgery,and falls deeply in love with a young nurse. Always honest with himself,Merton knows where this is heading, and knows, even in his early entries, that this will not end well for her. There is a sweet episode when Joan Baez arrives,and after Merton tells her about his new love, insists that they drive straight away to Loiuisville to go to her{they do not.}There is nothing salacious here,and Merton comes to grips with his poor treatment of woman in his early life{he had fathered a child in London, and mother and son had died during the blitz in WWII},and finds another side in himself. Interspersed within this is the usual Merton gold, the ability to see through modern problems for what they are{fleeting}, and come up with crystalline insights{his commenst on his prayer life while he is essentialy leading ,for him, a compromised life, are very interestin.] This is top flight Merton, now on the top step, cleansed and looking east,where on the horizon, is the next and last volume, and the Asian journey. Essential,non-sensational,always edifying.



3. "Learning to Love" captures the ache of forbidden love better than any work I have ever read. Merton's honesty, as mentioned in the other reviews, sets the gold standard for how we should converse with ourselves and with God. Ultimately, through meditation and prayer, Merton decides that his affair has opened his heart so that it holds a greater love for God, and the experience of going against his vows humbles him.

   Anyone who is a true believer, who struggles to live that belief in daily life and who tries to reconcile the faith and the heart will enjoy this book. I can also recommend this book to people who are interested in journaling, as a example of "getting to the heart of matter" (Graham Greene) and to people who want a good introduction to Thomas Merton. I have gone on to read a number of his journals and his other books. He is most well-known for Seven Story Mountain. The Merton in that book is far younger and more naïve than the erudite and humble Merton displayed in these pages. Had I read Seven Story Mountain first, I never would have picked up another Merton book. Luckily for me, I picked this Merton book up first.




4. This was actually the first I ever read or heard of Merton. I read this book at a time when I was going through a bit of a struggle myself in regards to who I was and what I believed. I was raised Catholic, but no longer felt that I had any place in the Church and then I felt guilty for having those feelings. What Merton does so beautifully and bravely is to show his own struggles and his own humanity to the world. He struggles with the idea of being a hermit vs his desire to change the world; with his love and devotion to the Church vs his love of a woman; with his need for solitude vs. his need to be surrounded by other intelligent, compassionate minds. It's a fascinating read. I think one of the things that struck me most about it was how unselfconsciously he writes about what he's going through. It's not a book overflowing with self-judgment or condemnation. On the contrary, it's a book filled with the idea that he is as human as the rest of us and has the same flaws and desires, yet what he does with those flaws and desires is really up to him. That's no small discovery. It's one we could all stand to make about ourselves.



5. If there is anything this book has taught me, it is that there is no escape from the human condition. No matter if you are living as a monk in the woods or living in the midst of 9-5 city life, there is no real sanctuary from the struggles of humanity. Merton's writings on his struggles to reconcile his desires and remain true to his vows are enlightening. These are the struggles that all of us face, in one form or another. You can't help but love and appreciate Merton, the man, found in this journal.

5 comments about Swimming With Scapulars: True Confessions of a Young Catholic.

1. As the author of CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC SCHOOLGIRLConfessions of a Catholic Schoolgirl, I was expecting SWIMMING WITH SCAPULARS to be a little more controversial as my book is. Unlike the character of Valerie in CCSG, Lickona is surprisingly, for such a young person, really into his "old fashioned" faith.
   A good read, funny and heartwarming.



2. This story seems like the author was trying to create an image for himself as a "cool Catholic. I enjoyed another book a lot better called, CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC SCHOOLGIRL. This book by Michelle Kane was more realistic because the main character rebels against the Catholic Church.Confessions of a Catholic Schoolgirl



3. I had seen this book around for a while before I finally bought it, and I did so mainly after reading Richard John Neuhaus' positive remarks about it on the front cover and discovering that Lickona went to Thomas Aquinas College in Southern California. The marketing folks at Loyola Press should have their knuckles whacked for the silly description on the back cover, which was one of the reasons I avoided the book for so long. Their banner remarks ("He plays alternative rock, He draws offbeat cartoons, He writes about wine") imply that serious Catholics would never do such things, just as their remark that "He wears a scapular" implies that one who does so would not ordinarily do the other three things. Maybe it's a small thing, but I was really annoyed by this "Hey, Catholics can be COOL!" sort of approach. I'm not sure the marketing staff even read the book. I don't remember Lickona talking about drawing cartoons at all, and he spends little time talking about wine or alternative rock.
   
   Don't be deceived by the superficial sales pitch on the back cover: Lickona's book is an honest, thoughtful and substantive spiritual diary. As a fellow Catholic of Lickona's general age, I found this to be a very interesting and all-too-familiar account of trying to live a fully Catholic life "in the midst of a crooked and depraved generation," as St. Paul put it, where one is not generally supported in that commitment by the wider culture. One of the marvelous things about the book is that it reveals just how much each one of us can be part of that crookedness and depravity despite our best efforts. Lickona's humility and honesty prevent this from degenerating into a smug holier-than-thou autobiography or a tedious "finding God in popular culture" sort of thing (of the type that Tom Beaudoin and others are producing). Lickona is not interested in changing the Church to fit the world around it, nor is he willing to dismiss the world as entirely hostile to the Church and therefore as something to be avoided or scorned. Because of that, he has written something that is much more fully Catholic than so many others in the genre, and I think this is what one reviewer was on to when he/she said that Lickona's book "shatters stereotypes." Its accessibility and plain-spoken qualities have much to do with its appeal, and many young Catholics may well find themselves thinking that they too could write a book like this.
   
   Ultimately, this is a book about hope, about what is real and true and beautiful, and about taking the spiritual life seriously (which does not mean without a sense of humor). It is at different turns funny, moving, dull, sad, profound, discouraging and hopeful, not unlike life itself. Lickona has probably not written a classic, but he has taken a thoughtful snapshot of the journey being taken by many young Catholics today. I often read about new generations of young Catholics who are taking the faith seriously and embracing it as the center of their lives; Lickona is clearly one such person, and I sincerely hope that there are many others out there.



4. If I'd been an editor on this book, I would have changed the title to True Confessions of a Young Catholic: Take this Bread and take this Whine.
   
   Matthew Lickona has the blind faith that is the luxury of those who benefit from the system. He admits that he doesn't "understand the Church's teaching on birth control," but then goes on to say, "But what's it matter if I understand it? I don't have to understand it, I only have to follow it." But you don't have to get pregnant, do you?
   
   As for my proposed subtitle: Matthew whines. He whines a lot. He whines about wanting to have sex with his wife while she's ovulating (and he tries to goad her into it, despite the fact that they've agreed to practice natural family planning). When they cut it too close and she ends up with an unplanned pregnancy, he prays for a miscarriage (how pro-life of him). He whines about what a hypocritical sinner he is for praying for such a thing. He doesn't get his wish, which means he gets to whine about how his oldest son doesn't properly love the Church. He whines about how modern church music is too "upbeat." He whines when a priest adapts the text of the Eucharistic prayer. He whines BIG TIME when a lesbian couple comes into Church and by their mere presence distract him from the Mass. He whines when the majority of his congregation are Latino or Vietnamese. He whines because his brother is holier than him. He whines because he and his wife don't have time to make fancy meals when they entertain because they've got too many kids (4, two boys, and two girls, the latter of which are NEVER given much screen-time in his memoir). He whines because his mother-in-law is pagan and thinks the Church is unjust for not ordaining women (Matthew puts up a feeble defense of the Church patriarchy here). And finally, he whines because he doesn't have very many friends (I can't figure out why).
   
   He flagellates himself for the sins of lust and wrath, but what his character really smacks of is pride. "It's hard to be a good Catholic, but LOOK HOW HARD I TRY!!!!" Even when he attempts to make himself vulnerable by expressing some very deep faults (including his short temper with his kids, which comes across as borderline abusive), the tone remains prideful: "I'm so humble that I can admit my terrible sins." A direct quote from Matthew while talking about his pagan mother-in-law: "I want Mom to see something attractive in the faith, something she wants and does not have. I want her to see in our lives evidence that OURS is a living God, one who acts in the human heart in a way the goddess does not."
   
   My God is better than your God, nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah.
   
   I can appreciate Matthew's spiritual seeking, I just wish it would take him a little further than the Pope's back yard.



5. I didn't know what to expect when I picked up the book, but my curiosity got the best of me. What a pleasant surprise! I loved it! I never read anything from Loyola Books before, but I saw Fr. Groeschel's name on it so I gave it a try. I usually read Tan Books, Ignatius Press, Scepter, Basilica Press and so on. This book has helped me with my faith and my ideas about marriage.
   Thank you Matthew!!!

4 comments about My God and I: A Spiritual Memoir.

1. I am shame for myself for almost 30 years because my grade is bad and leave the school.I lost any confidence about myself(this is the tragedy of Taiwan's students).Thank God, He save me in this very moment,and lead me to work at Literature Department of Campus Evangelical Fellowship in Taiwan.in here I read the chinese dition of Dr.Lewis B.Smedes's works,He encourage me to discern the difference between sin and shame, healing me gradually,release me from accusation from my own heart.Just receive the grace of God,forgive and forget is the best way to face the past,hold God' promises is the best way to face today and uncertain future.
   This is especially true for me,and now I realize this is a spiritual warfare.only by God's grace can I live modestly and happily.I thank Dr.Lewis B.Smedes so much that I want to interview him personally.unfortunely, He was die last year's December,but I more precious his work,because he still speak to me with his works.comfort me through his gentle words and remind me the life of Christian is a warfare, need to take up the whole armor of God.
   Thank you so much. I miss you, Dear Dr. Lewis B. Smedes.



2. Once in a while a writer opens their soul so they can touch ours. My God and I is memoir with theological depth. Lewis Smedes shares his wounds with forward movement. He reminds us that we all have wounds, but how have they and will they shape us. I am thankful for his constant reminder that God is present, even if we can't or don't want to believe it.



3. My God and I is the memoir of Lewis Smedes, bestselling author and long-time professor of ethics and theology at Fuller Seminary. It was published in 2003, just months after Smedes' death at age 81, and contains reflections on all periods of his life, including right up to the time of his death. This little book has it all: anecdotes about famous Christians such as Karl Barth and C.S. Lewis, reflections on growing up during the Great Depression, insight into the fundamentalism of Moody Bible Institute and life at Calvin College and Fuller Seminary, the hardship of writing, struggles with children and depression, dealing with loss, and even a reference to masturbation, all told in an epigrammatic style and salted with a self-effacing humor.
   
   An example of this humor and style is his relating of a particularly painful episode of depression, which was so bad that he stopped preaching and isolated himself in a cabin in Puget Sound. But, in the middle of this depression, when he thought all was lost, God broke through to him, and Smedes imagined God saying to him, "I will never let you fall. I will always hold you up." Smedes goes on to write, "Never before had I been so suddenly released from the devil of despair. Never before had I known such an amazing grace. Never before such elation." And then, when the reader has just read these words and believes that Smedes has been miraculously cured of his depression, he continues on with these final words on the subject: "I have not been neurotically depressed since that day, though I must, to be honest, tell you that God also comes to me each morning and offers me a 20-milligram capsule of Prozac. With this medication he clears the garbage that accumulates in the canals of my brain overnight and gives me a chance to get a fresh morning start. I swallow every capsule with gratitude to God."
   
   The above vignette is funny. But it is also wise. And in the end, it is the wisdom contained in this little book that makes it impossible to put down. It displays, on page after page, the soul of a man who had a mature understanding of life that few have attained, even as octogenarians. Smedes offers few answers in this book, but the wise seldom do. Instead, he offers us clarity about what is important in life; he shows us what the right questions are. For all of his repeated claims of insecurity, his writing reveals a soul secure in the knowledge of itself, and that rarest of all commodities-a life well-lived. My God and I gave me a glimpse of a man I would have liked to have known, and left me feeling as if I did.
   
   Thanks, Dr. Smedes, for this book.



4. Lewis Smedes, long time and much loved professor of Fuller Theological Seminary, finished this short memoir just before his untimely death on December 19, 2002, at the age of 81. Thank God he did. Smedes was a rare person who combined a number of important traits that most of us can only hope to emulate--scholarly erudition, a deep empathy for the ambiguities of the human condition, a passionate Christian faith, the heart of a pastor, and superb skills in writing for the average person on the street and in the pew. His book Forgive and Forget; Healing the Hurts We Don't Deserve, for example, sold over a million copies, and unlike many popular Christian books, his had important things to say.
   
   In twenty-seven short, crisp chapters (about 7-8 pages each), Smedes takes us through the successive stages of his life journey, beginning with his grandparents and ending with his retirement years. Smedes struggled with faith. I am reminded of the wag who observed, "my faith does not seem to be very strong, but it appears to be permanent." In his final chapter he affirms the dreams that he maintained to the end, what I would call kingdom hopes--of a world without HIV, of children who do not go to bed hungry, and so on. He also affirms his deep and passionate desire for these things to come true. But his faith, he writes, was always "laden with doubts" because of the huge disparity between that for which we hope and the realities that we see and experience. At the end, writes Smedes, he found himself "at the station called hope." And what better testimony than to write that "I liked the last miles of the journey better than the first. But, since I could not have the ending without first having the beginning, I thank God for getting me going and bringing me home. And sticking with me all the way" (p. 178).

1 comments about From Africa to America: The Journey of a Lost Boy of Sudan.

1. We have been aware of the lost boys for many years but have not known much detail of this epic endeavor until last Fall when Joseph Akol Makeer made one of his first public presentations to our Unitarian Congregation. He is also doing much to help us understand the current plight of the Sudanese as they are now being repatriated from refugee camps after years of displacement.
   
   We are very moved by the sense of responsibility that the Lost Boys, now scattered all over the globe, have for each other, reunited families, those remaining in refugee camps or returning from African expatriation to what little remains in Southern Sudan. Joseph conveys these aspects of their culture and beliefs very well as he tells his personal story of a journey begun in formative childhood years two decades ago.
   
   A powerful story of struggles, loyalty, failures, perseverance and triumphs.

No comments about Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions.

4 comments about Courageous Christians: Devotional Stories for Family Reading.

1. Finally! A devotion book our whole family looks forward to reading! The stories are fast-paced and very inspiring. They've led to some great discussions.



2. This is one fantastic book! It's inspiring, educational, and most of all, provides something that's lacking in many homes today--great discussion between parents and their kids--even their teenagers!

   "Courageous Christians" teaches without preaching. It explores the importance of integrity, perseverance, dreaming big dreams, and never giving up. You'll meet lots of new people, and become better acquainted with some you've known of previously.

   Kids of all ages will love this book, and so will their parents. So gather everyone around the sofa before going to bed tonight. Start at the beginning, and read a different story every night. You'll be touched, amazed, and inspired.

   Ms. Brown has done an excellent job. The reader will be refreshed and invigorated. I bought several copies of this book to give as Christmas and graduation gifts.

   Run, don't walk, to your nearest bookstore and buy this book. You won't be disappointed!




3. When I received this book, I was pleasantly pleased with its format and even more pleased with it�s content. Joyce Vollmer Brown has gathered sixty note-worthy stories of people, some past and some current, who have had their faith put to the test. The author�s goal was to introduce families, especial children, to hero�s of the faith. She has accomplished that goal and more. We strongly recommend this book to all believers. You will find encouragement and inspiration. One other note, the publisher of this book is Moody Publishing, which is a publisher that I trust greatly when looking for a book of biblical content.



4. These are great stories. Nice springboard into reading the entire bio of many of them. My children (9, 12, 15) listen attentively and have discussions about their lives. The questions at the end of the chapters are not the best, but I add my own and the children usually have so many comments that I know they are thinking about the character of these people and God's impact on their lives. The book has many different people included, famous and never heard of people, so that it encourages us all to live for Christ and impact our world despite the size of our sphere of influence.